


Partners in Crime

by rosesfortrinity, WaterMonkey



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-27 19:36:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16708741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesfortrinity/pseuds/rosesfortrinity, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaterMonkey/pseuds/WaterMonkey
Summary: "You never took us aliveWe swore that death would do us partSo now we haunt you in the dark,You never took us alive,We live as ghosts among these streets,Lovers and partnersPartners in crime..."





	Partners in Crime

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I was super inspired by some scenes in the music video for “By Now” by Mariana’s Trench and then the song “Partners In Crime” by Set It Off came to mind and now here I am. I definitely recommend listening to that song while/before reading!

_“This, a tale of reckless love, living a life of crime on the run._

_I brush to a gun, to paint these states green and red…”_

Her arms flew up toward the sky out of the car. With the drop top down on the convertible, the wind whipped her hair back and the sun glared down on the skin of her face and shoulders.

She was elated.

“We did it, Taeyong!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Leaning over, she placed a kiss on his cheek before throwing her arms out again. She let out a joyous scream, and Taeyong laughed as he sped down the long stretch of empty desert.

He wasn’t sure how, but they had somehow just managed to rob one of Las Vegas’ most prestigious casinos completely blind. It should have been impossible in every conceivable way.

**-24 hours before-**

I poured a shot of tequila straight from the bottle down into Taeyong’s mouth. He kept his head tilted back as he bit on his bottom lip, letting the burn subside. I seized this opportunity to place a light nibble on his exposed neck, trailing my lips up to his jawline before straddling him and melting us into a deep kiss. His hands landed on my hips as we stayed, sharing the moment. It was rare that we got times like this to just be still.

We were still coming off of the adrenaline rush from two days ago. We had finished robbing a jewelry store in Fresno, California and hit the road without stopping. We had managed to lose the cops shortly after we had crossed the Nevada state lines. We swapped out cars to stay anonymous, (thank you to the owner of the red Jeep in Indian Springs, by the way. We hope you like your new Honda instead,) and had then ditched the Jeep once we had gotten into Las Vegas.

We had settled on a room at The Flamingo and had spent most of the first day in town watching the news from the room to see if anyone had caught our faces. Although news of the robbery had made it this far out, it seemed as though our descriptions had remained vague enough that we were in the clear.

“So,” Taeyong finally broke our kiss and rested his forehead against mine, “what do you want to do today? We have a whole city, a bag of cash to blow, and some jewelry we can probably pawn for more cash.”

I jumped up and walked over to our suitcase. I dumped out the bag of diamonds and rare stones and filtered through it.

“Some of it is probably serial numbered, but I bet we could get away with selling some of it. It’s all pretty enough.” I shrugged, and then followed with, “but we should go out tonight. Let’s do everything in Vegas that you’re supposed to do before we have to bolt again.”

Taeyong laughed and agreed. We changed clothes to blend in. My black skinny jeans and an A-line tank top with leather accents on the top matched his torn black jeans and button down he paired with a leather jacket. He slicked his hair back and he looked lethally handsome.

We walked through the casino downstairs until we made it to the street. The neon lights flashed across our skin and we were as giddy as kids in a candy store. The cash was burning holes in our pockets, and we decided to run through a couple of different casinos. “Paris” lost us about $300, but Taeyong quickly won it back with a serious string of luck at Roulette at the Bellagio.

After a couple of rounds of Poker and some penny slots, we were sufficiently buzzed and carrying a bit of extra money around. We stepped out of the Bellagio and went to watch the fountain show. I looked at Taeyong and said, “we’re doing Vegas right, baby!”

He smiled at me and said, “well there is one cliche Vegas trope we have yet to try! We’ve lost money, we’ve won money, we’re almost drunk, but there’s one more thing.”

I was confused until he reached in his pocket and pulled out a diamond ring. It was the one in the jewelry store I had told him was my favorite, and the ring he had shattered the glass case with his gun with to get. I hadn’t thought about it again because I had been too worried about getting us out of there quickly.

“Wanna go find an Elvis to marry us?” he laughed but dropped to one knee anyway.

“That’s the worst way to say, ‘will you marry me,’ Tae!” I smacked his shoulder but then squealed, “yes!”

We found our Elvis and we were married before the end of the night. Walking back to our hotel drunk and married, Taeyong stopped in front of Paris as we passed it again.

“I have an idea.”

“What’s your idea? Go back to the hotel and go to bed? Because I think that is the best idea right now!” I responded, but I stood up a bit straighter when I noticed the seriousness behind Taeyong’s stare at the building before us.

“Let’s go get our money back from them.” he turned to me suddenly, eyes wild.

“What are you talking about? We don’t need to try to bet our current money in hopes of winning back like $300. That’s nothing compared to what we have back at the room. Let’s go eat and sober you up so you don’t think about gambling anymore.”

“No, baby,” he smirked, “I’m not talking about gambling.”

_“We swore that death will do us part_

_They’ll call our crimes a work of art_

_You’ll never take us alive_

_We’ll live like spoiled royalty, lovers and partners_

_Partners in crime”_

“This is absolutely ludacris!” I snapped at Taeyong as we walked back into the hotel room. Once he made sure the door was shut behind us, he turned back to me to try to explain himself, but I wouldn’t let him speak. “Robbing little jewelry stores is one thing, but a giant casino? That’s suicide! You wanna ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ this shit and end up dying in a blaze of glory? Succeeding but then being killed or jailed doesn’t sound like ‘success’ to me.

“Tae, I like this.” I spread my arms out and gestured to the room. “I like the little raids to get by and having fun with you while we do it. We aren’t con artists! We’re just petty thieves, and I’m totally cool with that!”

“But what if we never had to do it again?” Taeyong cupped my face and locked eyes with me. “What if this was the last one that we ever had to do? We could settle down and be content. Get us a little loft somewhere and pay for it all up front. Get a cat. You could paint or write or pursue whatever it is that you want to do without worrying about making ends meet to get by.”

It did sound nice. He knew that all I had ever wanted was to pursue different types of creative arts while living in a city in a studio overlooking the skyline. I had let go of the idea of us staying in one place a long time ago, though. We had started this whole game a couple of years ago, and I never looked back at that dream.

I smiled slightly remembering our first heist. We had been transporting drug money for one of Taeyong’s friends. Not one to partake ourselves, we never desired to steal the pills. The suitcases of cash were always what was most tempting. They paid us well, but we were always salivating for more. At a drop off one day, I reached into Taeyong’s jacket and aimed a pistol at the dealer. He laughed at us as we ran. Eventually, that one got Taeyong’s ass beat, but not before we had stashed half of the $500k that was in the briefcase away.

It lit a fire under us. We had been on a roll ever since. Part of me felt bad. We were stealing from people just trying to get by, but it was fun! It was thrilling. It beat out my old job where I had to deal with rude clients any day. We never caused anybody any physical harm. We never went into stores with bullets in our guns. They stayed unloaded until we’re on the run and we have the cops behind us in case we need to protect ourselves. We had never once actually fired a bullet.

I ran my hands through my hair. What was happening? Was I actually considering this?

“Your plan would have to be immaculate,” I said, and I put a finger up to stop him again and said, “and I reserve the right to say ‘no’ at any time! We are going to have to do this bigger than we ever have before, and that scares the hell out of me.”

Taeyong wrapped his arms around me in a comforting hug.

“I’ll protect you.” He kissed my forehead and, with his lips still pressed to my head he said, “I promise with my life that I’ll protect you.

* * *

 

 _“This, the tale of reckless love, living a life of crime on the run,_  
I brush to a gun to paint these states green and red,  
Everybody freeze, nobody move, put the money in the bag or we will shoot,  
Empty out the vault and me and my doll will be on our way.”

She could feel her heart beating against her ribcage as though it was attempting to burst out and run away. She was focused on regulating her breathing. Her gun felt as though it weighed twenty pounds more than it normally did. Bullets don’t weigh that much, but the fact that it had them in it at all was anxiety-inducing.

**-A few hours before-**

“We have a deal, Taeyong! When we started this whole ordeal, we had a fucking deal!” He had not done a great job at continuing to convince me to follow through with a casino heist. His most recent point was that we needed to keep actual bullets in our guns. His argument was “in case somebody called our bluff,” but the idea of having to potentially actually fire a gun was not okay with me. The illusion of having the control with one was enough in the past. Surely, it would work this time, too?

“Babe, it’s just a precaution. Imagine that this goes south. Don’t you want to be able to defend yourself?” Taeyong attempted to hold my hand but I yanked it away. He saw the frustration in my eyes. I could tell he was starting to second guess suggesting this, but he never backed off.

After several hours of arguing, though, he finally grabbed my arm and pulled me tight against him.

“If we can pull this off, we’ll start a comfortable, honest life. Let’s do this last one.”

With that, I caved.

**-A few hours later-**

So there we were. We walked into the Paris Casino. At first, we exchanged cash for chips. We wanted to assess the cashier’s register and get a feel for the room. The cashier was a younger girl who could have cared less that we were there. She lazily counted our money and exchanged it for a few chips before leaning back on her chair and rolling her eyes. My eyes flitted up to the security camera right above us. That would be difficult to maneuver around.

We played a few rounds of penny slots, watching movements and eavesdropping on the staff where we could. At one point, Taeyong nodded his head at the cashier’s drawer. They were doing a staff change. Drinks in hand, we walked by, pretending to be drunk and as if we were attempting to pick out our next game as we listened to the first girl tell her replacement that she would be back after her quick break.

We followed behind her and noticed her flirting with a server in a maroon vest and cologne that was way too thick. He leaned against a table, laying on his charm as he talked to her. He was reaching over, playing with her hair as he talked to her, and she blushed. Taeyong nudged me and as we passed, told me that he had a plan.

The girl returned to her station, and it was time to move into action. I waited until she was settled with her hands laced on the desk in front of her. She looked bored out of her mind, but I was about to add some excitement to her life. Staggering up to her window with a faux drunken sway, she rolled her eyes as I approached. I’m sure she wasn’t excited to deal with another drunken asshole. Taeyong was sauntering up, his arm around the server that she had been talking to earlier. The server looked confused, and so did the cashier as we approached.

“Baby,” Taeyong said, “didn’t these two look so cute earlier flirting by the blackjack tables?”

“They did!” I replied. “It’s so cute seeing two kids in  a new, young love.”

“Um… can we help you with something?” the cashier asked.

“You can actually!” I dropped my over-sized Louis Vuitton bag on the ledge in front of the cashier. “You can pretend that I’m cashing these few chips out for cash, and empty all of the cash that you have back here. I know you store at least a few thousand, not to mention what people have given you in exchange for chips.”

She laughed at me. Bitch. I mean, granted, she didn’t actually know what she was up against, but the laugh pissed me off.

“Why in the hell would I do that?” She cocked an eyebrow at me. I turned to Taeyong and shrugged.   
  
“Go ahead, babe. Show her why she would.”

I moved to block Taeyong from the security camera aimed at us. This gave him the chance to reach inside of his jacket and show her the gun that he now aimed at the server. Poor guy went rigid when he felt the barrel hit his rib cage, and the cashier’s jaw dropped.

“You see, this is what’s not going to happen. You’re not going to cause a scene. You’re going to cash out my chips for all of the money out here and let us walk out. If you choose to cause a scene, I need you to know that other people could get hurt.”  
  
She started to slowly nod as her eyes filled with tears.

“We aren’t stupid, honey. We know that you’ll call the cops on us the moment we walk out of this room. But if you signal security of any kind before, boy toy here and other people may face the repercussions of your actions. Is that understood?”

She nodded a bit more, and put on a fake smile and said, “ma’am? Can I get your chips to exchange?”

I returned her smile and nods. Taeyong moved the gun away from the server’s body, and I heard him let out a breath. A security officer started to walk by, and Taeyong let out a laugh and said, “I can’t believe we ran into each other like this! High school was so long ago! What are the odds?!” The server caught on and faked a laugh. The guard did not even give us a second glance. I could feel my pulse through my whole body. That was a bit too close for comfort.

I looked back at the cashier and she handed me my purse. I opened it to see several large stacks of bills in there. The whole bag was full. She looked at me with wide eyes, hoping that it would appease me.

“How much?” I asked.

“Just shy of $10,000. It’s been a slow day but I promise that’s all that I’ve got in here.”

I doubted her for a moment, but the panic in her voice practically begged me to go away. I shot her an apologetic glance as I thanked her and signaled to Taeyong that it was time for us to leave.  
“Remember,” he said, “not a word until you see us leave.” He hid the gun beneath his waistband again and released the waiter finally. I wanted to keep an eye on them, but I also didn’t want it to seem suspicious that I continued to glance over my shoulder. Instead, I kept my head high as we walked toward the doors. There was a guard standing by one, and my heart leaped up to my throat. I was all talk. I was not actually prepared to have to make a show of force.

Instead of asking us any questions, though, he simply held the door open for us and wished us a good night.

Somehow, we made it back to our hotel room several blocks away un-caught. It wasn’t until we were in the room that we heard sirens blaring toward Paris and saw police cars attempting to blow through traffic to get there. We grabbed our bags quick and Taeyong changed clothes. He had found a storage room earlier in the day with a bunch of extra uniforms, including some the valet wore. Hotel employees were careless these days. He managed to convince an employee that he was his new co-worker who didn’t have an ID card yet and that he could go ahead and take a break. When the guy finally agreed and went to smoke a cigarette, Taeyong took the keys for a black Mazda MX-5 that pulled up.

Heading the direction of the valet garage, he missed the turn in and met me at the corner where I was waiting with our suitcase and my purse of cash. I threw both in the trunk and jumped in the passenger seat and Taeyong took off in the opposite direction of the group of police cars still heading toward Paris.

And now, here we were- speeding down a stretch of open highway with a few thousand dollars in the trunk of a car and headed toward Utah. We had decided to not stop driving until we crossed the state line. We would ditch the car in Provo and find another one in the morning. Stealing cars was second nature to us. We had probably relocated 10 or 11 at this point, so what was two more on our record. Hell, we would even consider buying a junker at this point. It would be less conspicuous and we could just find someone who would take a few hundred cash. No dealerships required.

A little over 5 hours later, we managed to find a place to crash for the night. We chose a quiet little motel that faced some beautiful mountains in the distance. It was quiet. We flipped on the TV and the heist had made the news. We knew that it would only be a matter of time before security footage with our faces was released, but it seemed as though we were in the clear for now. I kept imagining us getting away with this. Daydreams of the footage being corrupted and not a single clear shot of our faces being on the camera. I had read a story of a man named William John Brennan who had robbed an old casino in the ’90s and never been caught. How wonderful if that managed to be Taeyong and me!

Taeyong turned off the tv and threw himself back on the bed. He sighed and then whispered, “holy shit. I can’t believe that we got away with this!”

_“We’ll live like spoiled royalty, lovers and partners  
Partners in crime”_

I opened up my purse and stared inside, definitely agreeing with him that I couldn’t believe we had either. I ripped the bands off of a couple of stacks of bills and threw them in the air. It was cliche. It was cheesy, but it felt right. He laughed as he grabbed handfuls of cash and threw it up. I straddled over him, looking down at my beautiful boyfriend surrounded by thousands of dollars worth of cash.

Taeyong sat up and kissed me. His hands immediately flew to the hem of my shirt, and, with a quick break of our lips, he raised it over my head. His fingers tugged down at the straps of my black bra as his kisses moved from my mouth to my jaw to my chest. My head fell back as his tongue switched between each of my breasts and I could feel him growing underneath me. The adrenaline between the two of us had us both desperate to release some energy. It didn’t take long before we were both stripped off our clothes and I was back to straddling Taeyong’s lap. He placed a hand on either of my hips and guided me down onto him. I moaned as he filled me fully. He was placing love bites and kisses on my neck and collarbone as I began to shift my hips to feel friction.

Starting at a slow pace initially, it did not take long for me to begin moving faster to fill as much as him as I could. My hands knotted in his hair and his nails dug into my back as I rode him. Unholy moans of pleasure mingled in the room. The knot in my stomach began to build, and Taeyong must have noticed me tightening around him.

Unexpectedly, he flipped me over onto my back. With one of my legs draped over his shoulder, he thrust into me deeper in order to push me to my orgasm. I came quickly in the new position, and Taeyong soon followed. Gasping each other’s names as if we were gasping for air, he collapsed over me, his forehead pressed to mine. We laid there in, what I’m sure what quite the scene, naked in piles of money. We continued to exchange passionate kisses for a long time before we cleaned ourselves, (and the bed), up finally.

As we crawled under the sheets, Taeyong wrapped himself around me and I asked, “do you think we’ll get away with it?”  
“I hope so baby.” was the last thing I heard before Taeyong’s breathing slowed and he fell asleep.

I hoped so too.

 _“Baby, I’m a little scared_  
Now, don’t you quit  
He’s sounded the alarm, I hear the sirens closing in.  
Our paper faces flood the streets,  
And if the heat comes close enough to burn then we’re burning this place to the ground”

* * *

 

_You’ll never take us alive_

_We swore that death will do us part_

_They’ll call our crimes a work of art_

_You’ll never take us alive_

_We’ll live like spoiled royalty, lovers and partners_

_Partners in crime_

Taeyong and I left the motel early. We wanted to get a head start out of town, but we needed a vehicle first. We quickly skimmed Craigslist for a few options on our phones before we found a guy selling a car for dirt cheap. He described it as “an ugly piece of crap,” but guaranteed that it ran smoothly. Since we promised cash upon meeting, he had agreed to meet us early and quickly.

He hadn’t been lying. It wasn’t the nicest vehicle Tae and I would ever roll in. It was a white ‘91 Honda Civic. It had its fair share of dings and dents, but, I suppose it was charming in a way. after a test drive around the block and a peek under the hood, Tae decided it would suffice.

We thanked and paid the stranger. We took the papers and split. We headed east toward Colorado. We figured the winding roads through the mountains would help shake off any trail that we might still have blazing behind us.

We stopped in a Delta Colorado to eat. It was a small town. You could tell that most of the patrons at C&J Cafe had been going there as regulars for a long time. Old men in suspenders sipped coffee with one too many sweet and lows in them. Teens in letter jackets on their lunch breaks from school joked in a couple of corner booths. There was a good feel to the place.

We sat and a kind woman named Darla took our order for our burgers and we thanked her as she walked away. I sipped my Coke as Taeyong nodded to the TV over the register. The newscaster was reporting on “One Of The Greatest Vegas Heists Ever.” He smirked a bit, prideful that we had been so successful to still be talked about this far from Vegas and, seemingly unscathed.

The reporter moved on to a story about the local pet shelter as Darla brought us our food. My stomach growled at the sight of it. Thinking back, we hadn’t eaten since we left to go to the Paris Casino. I took the first bite and closed my eyes.

I had good food, the love of my life, and a trunk full of cash. Things felt so damn good.

_Here we find our omnipotent outlaws fall behind the grind tonight,_

_Left unaware that the loan store owner won’t go down without a fight._

_Where we gonna go?_

_**He’s got us pinned!** _

_Baby, I’m a little scared_

**_Now, don’t you quit_ **

_He’s sounded the alarm, I hear the sirens closing in._

“This just in- we seem to have an update in the Vegas crime case! It seems as though one of the cameras did manage to get a clear shot of the two suspects. Police have rendered more clear sketches of the man and women responsible for holding a cashier and waiter at gunpoint.”

I could have thrown up my burger as I watched mine and Taeyong’s faces show up on the screen. There was no mistaking that it was us.

“The two are believed to have been the culprits of several strings of robberies all the way through California before heading off to Vegas…”

The newscaster's voice drowned out as my heartbeat filled my ears. We did our best to not give away that we were panicking. We looked around and nobody seemed to notice us. Taeyong took cash out of his wallet to leave on the table to cover the cost of the ticket and leave a tip for Darla. I glanced over at her, and saw her behind the bar on her cell phone, glancing between us and the tv.

“Taeyong,” I whispered. “We need to leave. Now.”

He nodded, agreeing. Before we could stand up, though, Darla came up to our table.

“Headed out so soon? Can’t I interest y’all in some dessert?”

“Thank you, but we’ve gotta hit the road.” I smiled sweetly, but she wasn’t having it.

“I insist,” Darla said. “I’ll go get some pie. You two stay comfortable.”

Taeyong sighed. He turned to me and said, “baby. You know that I would never do anything to hurt you, right?” My brow furrowed but I told him yes. He continued with, “do you trust me?”

I nodded and said, “Taeyong? What are you thinking?”

Without another word, he stood on the table. He raised his gun to the air and fired a shot up to the ceiling. My panic started to overflowing into my breathing. I was hyperventilating. What the fuck was he doing?

“I really wish you hadn’t made that call, Darla!”

I looked around to see people cowering. I was shaking just as bad as they were. Taeyong had lost his goddamn mind. Lights were starting to vaguely flash in the window. Small town Police didn’t waste any time, that’s for sure.

Suddenly, Taeyong jumped off the table and grabbed me by the arm. Quicker than anyone else would have noticed, I watched him flip the safety on his gun before pressing the barrel to my side.

“I’ve got you baby. Trust me. I’m sorry.” He whispered before yelling again. “Nobody makes a fucking move. Darla had to go and ruin everyone’s nice lunch by making a call to the police.”

One brave soul stood up and, in a trembling, but loud voice, said, “you won’t shoot her. She’s your partner.”

Taeyong let out a maniacal laugh that I had never heard before. Although I did trust him, he was scaring me. I had never seen this side of him before.

“You think I won’t? You think that I won’t put a bullet through her? That makes all of the money mines. I almost wish I had thought of this sooner!” As he spoke, he was moving us toward the door. Taeyong aimed his gun at the man who stood, daring him to say anything else. He didn’t. He raised his hands and sat back down.

As soon as we reached the door, Taeyong pushed me through and yelled, “run, baby!”

We took off.

_Our paper faces flood the streets,_

_And if the heat comes close enough to burn then we’re burning this place to the ground._

We had parked the car right outside of the Cafe on Main Street. We were able to throw it in drive and speed past a few cops that were barreling their way toward us. Naturally, they began to follow us. The further outside of town that we got, the more lights we saw joining our chase. We passed a bunch of sand dunes and Taeyong began following signs for “Black Canyon.”

“What in the fuck was that?!” I screamed at him.

“Did you have any better ideas to get us out of there?” he snapped back at me.

“No! But I would never press a gun against you!” I said. I was almost in tears. I was scared. There was absolutely no way for us to get out of this.

We sped through the Canyon’s National Park sign. A river flowed underneath us. The walls of the canyons were sky-high. Different shades of tans and browns were cut with bursts of green trees. The pure blue of the sky reflected in the water. I wanted to appreciate its beauty for what it was worth- but I was too anxious holding onto my seat as Tae sped through winding roads with precision.

I looked at Taeyong, my sweet Taeyong. The man who would I had wanted to grow old with. The man that I had intended to spend the rest of my life with. I looked at him knowing that our options were running out.

“What are we going to do?” I whispered.

He reached over and held my hand. “I know you said that you didn’t want to Bonnie and Clyde this…” I couldn’t help but laugh, although I knew that he wasn’t joking. I shook my head, rejecting it immediately.

“Think you could land us in the water and we could swim if we did it just right?” I asked. Taeyong shook his head. He was right. The impact at our speed would be too much to risk.

“I’m scared,” I admitted.

Taeyong kissed the top of my hand. “Me too.”

“I love you, Taeyong.” It had so much finality behind it. As if it were a goodbye. I could tell that he wanted to tell me to stop. He wanted to tell me everything would be fine.

“I love you too.” was his response instead.

Suddenly, though, it seemed as though the river had become our only option. Well, the river or jail. As we rounded a corner, a barricade had been built. A wall of officers and police cars and spikes to blow out our tires were on the other side of the roundabout.

“Hold on!” Taeyong screamed, as he jerked the wheel hard and we went off of the canyon edge- straight into the water below.

_You never took us alive_

_We swore that death would do us part_

_So now we haunt you in the dark,_

_You never took us alive,_

_We live as ghosts among these streets,_

_Lovers and partners_

_Partners in crime_


End file.
